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While looking for a book I needed for an essay at the John M. Kelly Library I, as always, drifted toward the books in the “Z” class (Bibliography, Library Science). In most libraries on campus, with the exception of Robarts and the Inforum, the library science section is small, usually outdated and inevitably relegated to the last shelves of the general collections. Nonetheless, there are quite a few quirky titles that I sometimes find just by browsing this nook of the library.

Metro Council received funding from the province to operate the local library systems and wanted to find out which areas of service needed grants the most. Shaw was a prominent professor of Library Science at Rutgers University Library School and was chosen due to his broad experience.

While this book would be useful in the study of history of the Toronto Public Library, what interested me the most was one of the recommendations that Shaw makes following his report: “Professional staff salaries should be raised to the level recommended by the Canadian Library Association Standards.” According to this report, there was a shortage of professional librarians in the 1950s.

Scarborough Public Book Mobile, 1956. Toronto Public Library Digital Archive.

The shortage worsened in the 1960s, coinciding with expansions of public library systems in the suburbs across Canada and the US (among other factors). Librarians’ wages did improve throughout that time: on average, a junior librarian in his/her first job took home $2,135 per year in 1950 and $4,406 ten years later, as Dr. Bertha Bassam outlines in the appendix to her book, The Faculty of Library Science, University of Toronto and Its Predecessors, 1911–1972.

The rise in the average beginning salary over the decade might seem substantial, until we compare it to other occupations at that time: on economic, professional, and social levels, librarians were considered to be something along the line of dignified secretaries.

For comparison, in 1958, a messenger boy earned $2,292 annually, switchboard operator, $2,800, stenographer, $2,808, and secretary, $3,696 (in fact, Shaw pointedly states that “[t]he average salary for secretaries in Toronto was above the beginning rate for librarians in some of the libraries… as of 1958.” He defends his conclusions by stating that junior librarians that graduate from the program in which he teaches on average earn $4,500 and above in their first job.

Gladys Allison Building, 5126 Yonge Street, 1960s.City of Toronto Archives, City of North York Fonds 217, Series 249, File 130.

In addition, gaining professional experience did not mean that the salary of junior librarian would improve with time, although Shaw provides a list of different pay scales depending on experience (Librarian 1, 2, 3, and 4). However, staff with more than ten years of service were earning less than the minimum standard recommended by the CLA.

At that time, individuals desiring to work as professional librarians (as recognized by the American Library Association) were required to complete a one-year, post-graduate Bachelor of Library Science (BLS) degree. Certainly, the educational investment required to enter the profession did not translate into an adequate salary, but was more on par with the type of remuneration accorded to the clerical occupations.